The law as a profession and the legal academy are notorious as professions resistant to change. However, as law schools become ostensibly more committed to diversity among their student bodies, there would seem to be a desire to have a corresponding focus on an increase in the diversity of law faculty as well. Meera Deo, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, sheds light on the current state of the legal academy. In particular, she focuses on what is being done and what is not being done to address the lack of diversity among law faculty, as well as the disproportionate experiences that female faculty of color have. The recently published Unequal Profession: Race and Gender in Legal Academia is the first empirical and qualitative study to examine the experiences and trajectories of law school faculty.
Women of color are often not drawn to jobs in the legal academy, while white men often are, and Deo's book illuminates some of the reasons for this. Women of color are often drawn to firm life because of the financial incentives, often because they are responsible for the financial support of not just themselves, but also their extended family. Not only are those monetary rewards hard to walk away from, many of the women in Deo's sample explained that they had never considered academia because it was not something that was presented to them in law school as something that could be a possibility. In contrast, the white men in the book often entered law school with academia as a goal and were often encouraged to do so by their mentors. This provides an instance of some sobering news, along with some encouraging ideas about how to improve upon the diversity of law faculty. If women of color are encouraged to think about the prospect of becoming a professor early on in their careers, just as some of the white men were, and afforded opportunities to work with mentors who support those goals, law schools could see an expanded pool of diverse applicants to choose from.
Not only does the book provide an in-depth mixed method approach to studying the hiring process and the actual practice of being a professor in a law school setting, it also illuminates the effects that race, gender, and the interaction she terms “race × gender” play in the hiring process, advancement opportunities, publication output, teaching experiences, and the overall law school experience for both faculty and students. Deo's book highlights the areas in which law schools are sorely lacking in their efforts and successes in attempting to establish and meet benchmarks for diversity on their faculty, but she also outlines steps that could be taken to mitigate the deleterious effects that many women faculty of color experience as law professors.
Amplifying her mixed-method approach, the book uses not only raw numerical data to show the trends in hiring law school faculty but also extensive interviews with both male and female faculty of all races and backgrounds. Not only does this approach allow for the voices of the faculty members to shine through, but it also reveals how intersectionality can result in oppression and differences in experiences. Through the interviews with faculty, the reader learns the state of the law academy as it currently stands, as well as insights into the progress it has made and the long road to equality that still lies ahead.
Aside from the mixed-method approach being particularly illuminating, the qualitative aspect of the book makes it extremely relatable, particularly for those who are members of traditionally underrepresented groups in the legal academy. Numerous interviews with both white women and women of color detail instances of “mansplaining” and “hepeating.” Female readers of Deo's book will be able to nod their heads and think of a time when a similar instance happened to them, and, hopefully, the male readers of Deo's book will read the stories and be able to recognize when such activities occur on their own faculty, allowing them to step in to correct the transgressions.
While the book indeed demonstrates the clear inequality that has historically existed and currently exists, particularly for women of color, the reader also leaves feeling heartened in the fact that many faculty members report instances of support in their institutions. Several stories highlight valuable mentoring from fellow faculty members, particularly those similarly situated, about how to handle the challenges presented by the interaction of race × gender, as well as administrators seeming to make some overall progress in recognizing the need for diversity and the necessity to recognize and keep up with the evolution not only in legal faculty but also in legal pedagogy. These small steps toward progress that are noted in the book provide hope that not only will we start to see more women of color retained as faculty but also an environment that makes them want to stay. More women of color in leadership positions within universities, something Deo also highlights as an area that is solely lacking, could also help drive the changes to occur at a more accelerated rate.
Deo's book is a must-read for anyone in legal academia and even academia in general. Not only does it call attention to issues that are real and important if law schools are truly serious about expanding the diversity of their applicants and of their faculty, but it also provides information on how members of all groups, not just marginalized ones, can work to correct the issue. Men, and white men in particular, can recognize that both white women and women of color are often uncomfortable and left out in law school administration as a whole, and often face barriers in teaching that others may not. Women in the academy can recognize that encouragement of the next generation of law faculty may need some special encouragement to consider a different path, and they can provide advice and mentoring on how to do so. If pieces of Deo's book are slowly implemented in law schools, we will gradually begin to see the faculty look more like the tapestry that law schools often want to portray in their student guides but are unable to.
